1988 Candidate Dukakis: “The fish rots from the head first”

Jim Backlin

The Democrat presidential nominee in 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, said about the ethical standards of the Reagan Administration, “There’s an old Greek saying … the fish rots from the head first. It starts at the top.” Dukakis went on to say that scandal and misconduct had become “almost an epidemic. It’s the guy at the top who has to be held accountable.”

However, the ethical standards of the Reagan Administration were pristine compared to the cesspool of ethics scandals and the rampant lawlessness of the current Democrat administration. Dukakis could have been describing the current occupant of the White House as the number of major presidential scandals continues to accelerate under Barack Obama.

As the American people are now finding out -- little thanks to the “see no evil” mainstream news media -- because of the president’s frequent attacks on his political opposition, his underlings, including apparently all the way up to his chief of staff, have been shading the truth; lying to the American people and to the news media, and are committing crimes in the name of their president.

Obama, of course, has seen nothing; knows nothing, and has done nothing. This from a guy who promised he would change the culture in Washington D.C. In 2008, Obama promised the most ethical and the most transparent administration in American history.

Before the American people lose complete trust in the federal government, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democrat-controlled Senate better do their oversight duty and find out who is culpable in each of the presidential scandals, most especially in the Benghazi-Gate scandal; the IRS-Gate scandal, and the Spying on Fox News/Associated Press-Gate scandal. Use of the IRS to silence his political opposition was one of Richard Nixon’s articles of impeachment.

The questions which need to be asked during congressional hearings with regards to each of these major scandals are:

Benghazi-Gate scandal:

Who came up with the lie that the Benghazi Islamic terrorist attacks were caused by an anti-Muslim YouTube video?

Who ordered the United States military personnel (in Tripoli, Libya) to “stand-down” which prevented the rescue of the two Navy Seals who were killed as a result of this dereliction of duty and which resulted in the second terrorist attack after Obama’s ambassador to Libya and another American diplomat were killed?

What did the White House chief of staff know and when did he know it and what did he tell the president?

Spying on Fox News’ James Rosen and the Associated Press-Gate scandal:

Who authorized the spying on the Associated Press’ reporters and Fox News’ reporter James Rosen and indeed his parents?

Until these questions and others are answered, the American people will have little trust in the federal government, and most especially in the Obama administration. It would behoove those who know the answers to these questions to come forward.